Line casting machines



Feb. 13, 1962 K. DEBUS LINE CASTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 29, 1953 INVEN'I'OR.

ATTORNEYJ Feb. 13, 1962 K. DEBUS 3,020,999

LINE CASTING MACHINES Filed May 29, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN 'I 'OR.

82 MW JTTORNEU 13, 1962 K. DEBUS. 3,020,999

LINE CASTING MACHINES Filed May 29, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

w M M WHORNEYJ cooling system.

, water connections.

United States Patent 3,020,99 LINE CASTING MACHINES Karl Dehus, Berlin-Waidmannslust, Germany, assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Filed May 29, 1953, Ser. No. 358,390 1 Claim. (Cl. 1&9-56) on a casting wheel or carrier which, during each machine cycle of operation, is first rotated through 90 to carry the mold from the ejecting to the casting position and then through 270 to carry the mold from the casting position back to the ejecting position. Ordinarily, the casting wheel is equipped with four molds, any one of which may be selected for use by a manual rotary adjustment :of the casting wheel.

In order to avoid overheating of the mold in use, it is customary'to provide the casting wheel with a water In some arrangements, cooling tubes or conduits are disposed along the hub, rim or face of the casting wheel and are exposed to damage. In other arrangements, cooling channels are formed directly in the use of water tight connections throughout the system.

Moreover, the cooling system includes water jackets which surround the individual molds and which, instead 'of being built into the molds, are made a permanent part of the casting wheel so as thus to permit the molds to be readily removed and replaced without disturbing the Other features will appear from the detailed description'which follows.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a'front elevation, partly in section, of a cast- FIG. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 FIG. 3 is a front elevation of a casting wheel constructed in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through the journal stud upon which the casting wheel is rotatably mounted; and

FIG. 6 is a front view of the parts shown in FIG. 5.

In both examples, the casting wheel a is shown as provided with four mold pockets b, although the invention is of course applicable to casting wheels having a larger or smaller number of pockets. In these pockets, slug casting molds c of the usual design are inserted, consisting of an upper part or cap, a lower part or body and two intermediate pieces or liners. The casting wheel itself consists of a disk d provided on its periphery with gear teeth d and having a hub e mounted to rotate on a journal stud 3 secured to the customary mold slide 1.

According to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the disk d is provided on its rear side, that is, the side facing the casting pot, with a recess which extends annularly "ice from the inner circle 1 to the outer circle g. The recess thus formed is closed at the rear by a cover plate h. The four mold pockets are closed ofi by fillets i. Within the space thus formed, closed on both sides, there are arranged filler pieces k, forming channels whose extent can best be seen from FIG. 1. Water inlet and outlet passages m and n at the hub of the casting wheel communicate with these channels. It can be seen from the drawing that, by means of the filler pieces k and the fillets i, there is formed a course 0 along which the cooling agent, starting from the inflow passage m, first sweeps the outer and narrow sides of the four casting mold pockets, and, when it has passed the last casting mold, that is, the one to the right in the drawing, follows the course p on the inner and narrow sides of the casting mold pockets, and is finally discharged through the outlet passage n at the hub. Thus, a completely enclosed water circulating system is located within the casting wheel, with water jackets arranged in direct contact with the casting molds and completely surrounding them, so that fully sufiicient cooling is achieved even in the case of intensive heating. Such cooling, however, can be attained also when only a portion, rather than the entire, perimeter of the casting molds is swept by the cooling agent.

The fillets iand cover plate It must, of course, form a waterproofscal with the castingwheel body. For this purpose, if they are mounted as separate parts in a recess of the casting wheel, they are connected with it preferably by welding or soldering. However, the channels may also be produced by direct milling and covering or by drilling or by insertion of pipes into milled recesses and the like, the inserted pipes being in the latter case preferably connected with the casting wheel body by welding or soldering to produce a good, heat-conducting connection.

When adjustable casting molds are concerned, it is best to select the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Here the mold pockets b are made higher, so that above and below the casting molds c to be inserted, fillets 0 and p for each can be inserted. These fillets are bored out to form water passages and are adjustable in such a way that their spacing exactly corresponds to the height of the casting mold to be inserted between them. The casting mold rests by its lower surface on the lower fillet 0 which generally remains unchanged in its position, and for the adjustment of the upper fillet p in relation to the casting mold, set screws q are provided which press against these fillets. In this instance, the cooling agent flows through an inlet passage t made of elastic material, that is, a hose or an elastic tube, into the bore of the outer fillet p of the first mold pocket. The bores of all the individual fillets p are connected together by additional elastic hollow bodies u, that is, tubes, hoses or the like, so that the cooling agent successively flows through the outer fillets. At the last casting mold, shown at the bottom of the drawing, the cooling agent then flows via bypass v, which is again an elastic hollow body, through the bores in the inner fillets 0 which are connected together by elastic connecting members w, and finally back via line x to the discharge in the casting wheel journal. The elastic connections to the cooling fillets 0 and p enable the latter to adapt themselves exactly to the position of the casting mold.

For the exact adjustment of the position of the casting molds, the lower cooling fillets 0 are also made adjustable. For this purpose, bearing or fitting pieces are inserted in the casting wheel below the lower fillets 0 in a manner pro-posed for casting wheels without cooling fillets. In the present instance, screws y are preferably provided with heads of a large diameter and by whose adjustment the vertical position as well as the exact horizontal position of the lower fillets can be regulated. In-

stead of the screws, there may of course be used wedges or other adjustable pieces. Screws q, passed through the rim of the casting wheel, serve to press the upper fillet against the mold.

This second arrangement has the advantage that when a casting mold is removed and replaced, no connections need be severed through which water could escape and that, despite the direct cooling of the casting molds, the casting wheel can be equipped with molds of difierent sizes.

In both embodiments, the individual casting molds are cooled successively by the cooling agent, but this is suflicient because only one casting mold is in use at any one time. Such an arrangement presents the further advantage that only one supply and discharge line is required. Of course, if it should be desired for a particular reason, a separate supply and discharge line to each casting mold could be provided.

Reference is now made to FIGS. and 6 which illustrate how the cooling agent is conducted to and from the casting wheel through the fixed journal stud 3. According to the invention, a distributor piece 4 is inserted in the journal stud 3, said piece being provided with two angularly designed channels 5 and 6. The distributor piece is sealed against the journal stud by a stuffing box 7, which is fastened thereto by screws 8. Channel 5 serves to supply cooling water. It follows the water inlet pipe 9 arranged in the center of the journal stud 3. Inlet pipe 9 is screwed into the casting wheel journal. Channel 6 serves to return the cooling water. It opens into a cavity 10 of the journal stud, which cavity communicates with the water outlet line 11.

The distributor piece 4 revolves with the casting wheel 2, whose hub e makes a floating fit with the journal stud 3 (a known feature fully shown and described in the Kennedy Patent No. 850,114). The distributor piece is entrained by an engaging piece 12 fastened thereto by means of screws 13. Connection with the casting wheel is made by a screw 14 which lies in a slot formed in the distributor piece, so that the casting wheel is not hindered in its radial play in relation to the casting wheel journal. Connection of the channels 5 and 6 with the casting wheel occurs by way of nipples 15 which through elastic connecting members 16, for example cables, elastic tubes or the like, are connected with the before described inflow and outflow lines In and n or t and x provided in the casting wheel.

As herein shown, line 5 of the distributor piece lies in the axis of the journal, so that a direct flow of the water through the centrally arranged pipe 9 is possible, while the second line 6 opens into the cavity 10 of the casting wheel journal. Of course, the arrangement may also be such that two independent cavities are provided, one for each of the two lines 5 and 6. Such a solution might be necessary if the center of the casting wheel journal stud must be kept free for other purposes.

The engaging piece 12 may of course be replaced by any other known connecting device, provided it permits a radial movement of the casting wheel in relation to the journal stud.

While the invention has been specially designed for the use of water as the mold cooling agent, any other suitable cooling agent could be employed, such as oil, air or gas.

What is claimed is:

In a line casting machine, the combination of a rotatable casting wheel having a pocket in which a mold is mounted for ready removal and replacement as a whole in a facewise direction and formed radially outward of the pocket with a gear tooth rim portion by which the wheel is rotated, at least one wall of said pocket being constituted by a flat faced mold cooling jacket which makes direct contact with the mold and which has a flow passage located in close proximity to the mold, said mold cooling jacket forming a permanent part of the casting wheel and serving to locate the mold in proper position thereon, and said cooling jacket being arranged to permit the removal of the mold as a whole without necessitating its own removal and without disturbing the fluid connections to the flow passage, a cylindrical bearing sleeve protruding rearwardly from the casting wheel, a fixed cylindrical journal stud on which said bearing sleeve is rotatably mounted with a floating fit between the casting wheel and the journal stud to permit the proper alignment of the mold during slug casting and slug ejection, a distributor rotatably mounted in the forward end of the fixed journal stud and connected to the casting wheel for rotation therewith, said connection comprising relatively movable elements which permit a radial floating movement of the casting wheel with relation to the distributor, a fluid tight seal between the distributor and the journal stud, and inlet and outlet passages for the cooling agent formed in the fixed journal stud and the rotatable distributor and leading to and from the mold cooling jacket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 850,114 Kennedy Apr. 9, 1907 977,280 Degener Nov. 29, 1910 1,075,024 Degener Oct. 7, 1913 1,157,785 Kennedy Oct. 26, 1915 1,550,126 Tompkins Aug. 18, 1925 1,596,943 Petersen Aug. 24, 1926 1,615,031 Norwood Jan. 18, 1927 1,706,767 Blume Mar. 26, 1929 1,799,515 Johnson Apr. 7, 1931 1,807,419 Leighton May 26, 1931 1,817,483 Goud et a1 Aug. 4, 1931 2,600,772 Horn June 17, 1952 2,672,661 Lutz Mar. 23, 1954 

